This invention relates to a apparatus used in the field of commercial painting. More specifically, this invention is an improved paint brush protective cover that protects the bristles of paint brushes from being damaged during storage or nonuse thereby extending the life of the paint brush.
Many professional painters today use high quality paint brushes with substantial costs. Thus, painters must take care of their expensive brushes to prolong their life and to reduce the costs of maintaining their equipment. When a paint brush has been used, the painter must clean the brush in an appropriate solution to remove all of the existing paint. After the brush has been cleaned, sometimes the bristles tend to separate and fray off in nonuniform directions. This becomes a problem when the painter needs to use the brush again land the edges of the brush are not uniformly aligned. When the painter tries to paint on tight corners or to get an even distribution of paint onto a surface, the out of aligned bristles tend to scatter the paint and produce substandard results. If the bristles are aligned properly, the painter has control over the paint when painting around tight corners and can obtain an even distribution of paint onto a surface. This problem has been solved by the invention whereby the flexible cover is snugly wrapped around the bristles of the paint brush storing the bristles in a aligned fashion.
It has been customary for painters to clean their paint brushes with a cleaning solution after painting, and to store their brushes in the covers that the brushes were sold in or with no cover at all. If no protective covers are used, dust and other particles can stick and become imbedded inside the bristles, thus when the brush is used to paint again, these particles will collect on the paint producing a nonuniform streaks of paint during use.
Several approaches have been provide for, in Palthe of U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,240, "A device for use in thoroughly cleaning wet paint or varnish from a brush through the application of a cleaning solvent. The device includes a pump for pumping the solvent through a plurality of nozzles. The nozzles are adapted to be positioned between the bristles at the heel of a brush to be cleaned, with end portions of the nozzles in an opening between the bristles adjacent a divider wedge around which the bristles are fastened. Such positioning orients outlet openings adjacent the ends of the nozzles to direct solvent pumped through the nozzles transversely outwardly through the bristles to thoroughly clean the bristles at the heel of the brush." While this device has its advantages, it does not take into account the care for the paint brush after it has been cleaned. Once the brush has been cleaned, it is still subjected to contamination from dust, dirt, and a plurality of other sources.
Another approach is taught by Conley in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,673 wherein "Both pant rollers and paint brushes may be cleaned of water base paints within this apparatus which comprises an open ended tubular housing which contains a water manifold which produces a series of water jets which are aligned with the elongated axis of the housing and which impact either the paint roller or the paintbrush in a slightly offset fashion so as to impart a spin thereto. An adjustable clamping means is located on the outside of the housing on the side, opposite the location of the water manifold which adapts to a variety of different configurations of paint roller holder rods in order that the paint roller itself may be properly disposed within the interior of the housing such that the axis of the roller aligns with the axis of the housing. The water jets then impact off-center on the pile of the paint roller, washing out the paint, and imparting a spin to the roller which throws off the diluted paint and the wash water. Paint brushes are cleaned in the apparatus by employing an additional element, a brush holder, which fits into one of the open ends of the housing. The brush holder acts to align the brush along the axis of the housing and in the path of the water jets. Additionally, the paintbrush cleaning apparatus desirably includes a second series of water jets which emanate from a second water manifold which connects to the distal end of the water manifold discussed above, such that the second series of water jets is directed upwardly parallel to the bristles of the paintbrush to deeply cleanse therewithin." Similarly, as in the art of Palte, this device does nothing to protect the bristles once the paint brush has been cleaned.